Hi For quite some time ago I was building a silent PC and found great help on your forum. Unfortunately, I ended up having to spend my money on a new laptop and never got around to buying the PC. I have saved up some money now, however, so I can finally complete my silent PC build and I figured I would, once again, seek some advice on your forum

The pc will primarily be used for tasks such as downloading, office stuff and watching movies/series etc. I will use it as a gamer PC once in a while, however, so I need an acceptable gaming performance as well. Specifically, I am considering the following parts for my new pc:

Case: Fractal Define R4 BlackI need a reasonable airflow when I use it for gaming but silence is really important. I feel this case is a good compromise while also having a great design.

Mobo: Asrock H87 Pro4From experience I know that I am never going to OC so I do not need the Z87 chipset. In my old thread I was advised to choose ASRock, Intel Extreme or MSI due to better fan control.

CPU: Core i5 4670As stated above, no need for k-model since I am not going to OC.

CPU cooling: Noctua NH-U14sWithout having much experience with aftermarket CPU coolers I have had good experiences with all noctua products I ever bought. If someone has a better alternative I am all ears however .

GFX: MSI GTX760 TF 2GD5/OCDue to the gaming requirements I need a graphics card which can perform reasonably well for several years. I feel the GTX760 is a good compromise between performance and price in respect to my requirements. The noise levels on the TF models are quite impressive from the reviews I have read which is why I chose MSI. I was wondering if the OC model is different from the standard clocked cards in terms of noise levels ?

PSU: Corsair RM650I know an RM550 could probably do the job but the price difference is fairly small.

Main HDD: Samsung SSD (830 series)Already got this in my current PC. In case I decide to change it I will probably go for a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB.

Second HDD: TBDFor starters I will use a 1tb WD green I have lying around.

Ram: G.Skill SNIPER Series 2 x 4 GBI really have no clue which RAM to get but these seems fine :-p

I have build a fair share of PCs before but I have no experience with silent builds so any kind of feedback is very welcome!.

While for motherboards i personally prefer MSI for my builds, mainly because their BIOS PWM fan control, i have nothing against Asus or that makes them inferior, they are simply different, with Asus you should plan on software instead of bios fan control, you have to understand how each header works out (CPU_FAN = 4pin, CHA_FAN = 3pin), but Asus is a good option and I still continue to recommend them as long as people don't mind running software to control their fans. Now if you are going for pure PWM fans, then yes, go for MSI or asrock (i dont own any to be sure).

All the other choices seem solid all around, but if you ask me whats the cheapest way to build a very quiet atx setup, i would recommend Asus H97 Plus + Fractal R4 + swapping the case fans Antec True Quiet 140, at least 3 of them 2 in one out, all controlled with fanXpert. I would suggest to swap the cooler for Scythe Kotetsu since its cheaper and perform really well overall.

Alright, thanks alot guys for your feedback.Good point about the H97 I hadn't thought about that.I don't think many vendors have a Kotetsu in Denmark but I will check it out for sure I'll have to do a little research on the fractal case fans - I didn't know that these needed to be changed or how much of a difference it makes. Regardless, thank you for pointing out these things so it's a little easier for me to continue perfecting my build

Try if you can also to look into Asus H97 Pro and compare the price to the Plus, the main physical difference is the width of the board, the plus doesn't reach the last sets of stands/screws, and i believe has more CHA_FAN headers to control fans individually, among other things, weather its worth the price its up to you. For some reason the PRO is hard to get in US, but outside seems more common.

Wramberg wrote:

I don't think many vendors have a Kotetsu in Denmark but I will check it out for sure

Its alright to go with the Noctua NH-U14S also, its a great cooler, specially the fan controlled by CPU_FAN under fanXpert will drop to 300rpms or so, i suggested more cause in some cases that Kotetsu is cheaper and performs very good, but depending on the availability on your country they might cost similar, so on even pricing, i would go with noctua.

Wramberg wrote:

I'll have to do a little research on the fractal case fans - I didn't know that these needed to be changed or how much of a difference it makes. Regardless, thank you for pointing out these things so it's a little easier for me to continue perfecting my build

Weather the included Fractal R2 140 are good enough, its up to you, we all have different cooling needs and noise levels, the fractal fans drop to 400rpms under fanXpert, they are not that bad, but not that good either, just average imo.

It might be worth considering the Noctua NF-P14s REDUX PWM fan. This has a nominal 300 to 1200 rpm range. The REDUX range is lower cost than normal for Noctua, this is partly explained by the absence of extras such as the PWM Y splitter, PWM extension cable etc. It does make a difference, from my local supplier the Antec True Quiet costs only slightly less than the 140 NF-P14s REDUX. Having bought this fan I can say that the light/dark grey colour scheme works somewhat better with a black case than the traditional Noctua tones.

It might be worth considering the Noctua NF-P14s REDUX PWM fan. This has a nominal 300 to 1200 rpm range. The REDUX range is lower cost than normal for Noctua, this is partly explained by the absence of extras such as the PWM Y splitter, PWM extension cable etc. It does make a difference, from my local supplier the Antec True Quiet costs only slightly less than the 140 NF-P14s REDUX. Having bought this fan I can say that the light/dark grey colour scheme works somewhat better with a black case than the traditional Noctua tones.

This is the Fan Xpert 2 result for the Noctua NF-P14s REDUX PWM in PWM mode. It runs from 17% duty cycle, which is 208 rpm.

Attachment:

noctuanfp14sredux.png

Thanks for the graph =). they look pretty good range on pwm. Im really intersted on the Round version mouting them on the Silver Arrow 120mm mounting style clips, hope it drops similar to yours 1200rpm version.

Thank you for all the info and advice on the case fans guys - as you suggest I think I will wait and judge the stock fans by myself.I think I will stick with the NH-U14s mostly because it is easily available and I have good experiece with their coolers Regarding the mobo I think i'll go for an ASRock H97 Pro4 - again, due to availability and prior experience with their products.

After some more consideration and research, I think I might go with an Asus H97 Pro after all. I wouldn't mind controlling the fans in software, in fact, I would probably perfer it. But how do the fans behave outside Windows then ? Do they rev up when booting or ? Lastly, how is fan xpert 3 ? I read that some people have been having problems with fan xpert :/

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